Footwork carries Chieftains to third round

Sunday

Nov 24, 2013 at 2:00 PM

SEMINOLE — Papi White had another huge running game, and Seminole's Chieftains shook off an early deficit to claim a 52-27 win over Heritage Hall in Friday's second-round contest of the Class 3A playoffs.

SEMINOLE — Papi White had another huge running game, and Seminole's Chieftains shook off an early deficit to claim a 52-27 win over Heritage Hall in Friday's second-round contest of the Class 3A playoffs.
After posting the school's single-game rushing record of 466 yards in a first-round win over Marlow, White generated 347 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries versus Heritage Hall.
Quarterback Doc Harvey rounded out Seminole's rushing game, scoring five times and carrying the ball 108 yards on 22 attempts. Harvey threw the ball only once on the night, and that fell incomplete, so all of the Chieftains' 455 yards of offense came on the feet of White and Harvey.
White's TD runs Friday were an 11-yarder in the first quarter and a 49-yarder in the fourth quarter, the latter giving the Chieftains a 44-21 lead with 8 minutes left in the game.
The teams traded blows in the first half, with Heritage Hall breaking the ice on a 49-pass scoring pass from Connor McGinnis to Brendan Ezell in the opening quarter. White's 11-yard TD scoot and a failed two-point conversion left the Chargers up 7-6, and McGinnis scored from 7 yards out to give Heritage Hall a 14-6 lead to start the second quarter.
Harvey plunged in from a yard out, and White added the PAT run to knot the score at 14, and the Chargers later enjoyed their final lead of the night (21-14) on a 40-yard touchdown run by McGinnis.
Harvey and White paired up again — Harvey on a 5-yard TD run and White on another PAT run — to put Seminole on top 22-21 with 14 seconds left in the half. The hosts maintained their lead, scoring twice in the third quarter and twice more in the fourth, before the Chargers ended the scoring with a 1-yard McGinnis run in the fourth.
Seminole led 38-21 after three quarters.
“That first half, we just didn't play well on either side of the ball,” said Seminole head coach Mike Snyder, whose Chieftains are now 12-0. “But we withstood, and got it fixed at halftime.”
Heritage Hall was held to 191 total yards, including 90 rushing yards on 20 attempts. McGinnis completed five of 11 passes and was picked off twice.
Seminole will face host Hilldale High School — a 14-12 second-round winner over Metro Christian — at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 29, in Muskogee. Hilldale will enter the game at 10-2.
Heritage Hall concludes the season at 6-5.
Note: Report compiled by Jason Smith.